Princess Cruises is the destination-and-technology play in the premium tier. Seventeen ships, more than 345 destinations, a wearable device that unlocks your cabin door as you walk toward it, and — the part that actually separates it from everyone else — a wholly owned Alaska land operation of five wilderness lodges, ten glass-domed railcars and 359 motorcoaches.
This guide covers what Princess is like onboard, what the Plus and Premier packages really buy you, and where the line is genuinely the right answer rather than merely a reasonable one. If you are choosing between lines rather than researching one, our cruise lines explained comparison is the better starting point.
What Princess is known for
- Alaska. More than 55 years there, an owned land network no competitor except Holland America approaches, and grandfathered access rights to Glacier Bay.
- MedallionClass. A quarter-sized wearable that handles boarding, cabin entry, payment, food delivery anywhere on the ship, and locating the people you are travelling with.
- Bundled fares. Princess Plus and Princess Premier roll drinks, Wi-Fi and — importantly — crew gratuities into one per-day price.
- Long itineraries. Panama Canal full transits, 115-day world cruises, and the largest Japan season in company history for 2028.
- An adult-leaning ship that still handles multigenerational groups. No water park, but three age-banded kids’ clubs and an adults-only retreat.
Who Princess suits — and who should look elsewhere
Book Princess if Alaska is the trip and you want the land half done properly; if you like the idea of a single per-day price covering drinks, Wi-Fi and tips; if you are travelling as a multigenerational group and want everyone tracked and fed without a group chat; or if you want a long voyage — Panama Canal, Japan, world cruise segments — from a mainstream line at mainstream prices.
Look elsewhere if:
- Your family wants thrill hardware. Princess deliberately does not build water parks or go-kart tracks. Royal Caribbean does.
- You want a genuinely adults-only ship. Princess carries children. Viking and Virgin Voyages do not.
- Design is your priority. Celebrity‘s Edge-series ships are the more contemporary product.
- You want the Yukon. Only Holland America takes cruise guests to Dawson City.
The fleet
Seventeen ships, ranging from 2,000 guests to 4,310. The size spread matters more on Princess than on most lines, because the smallest ships do the itineraries the largest ones physically cannot.
| Class | Ships | Guests | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sphere | Sun Princess (2024), Star Princess (2025) | 4,310 | The newest and largest. LNG-powered, 21 decks, The Dome, Princess Arena, the Sanctuary Collection |
| Royal | Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Enchanted, Discovery | 3,560–3,660 | The modern core of the fleet, 2013–2022 |
| Grand | Grand, Caribbean, Diamond, Sapphire, Crown, Emerald, Ruby | 2,610–3,140 | Older but well travelled. Diamond and Sapphire were built in Japan and homeport there |
| Coral | Coral Princess, Island Princess | 2,000–2,210 | Built to Panamax dimensions — the Panama Canal and world cruise specialists |
Star Princess is the newest, debuting in October 2025 with an 11-day Western Mediterranean round trip from Barcelona and taking up an inaugural Alaska season from Seattle in 2026.
Looking further out, Princess ordered three Voyager-class ships in April 2026 — 183,000 gross tons and roughly 4,700 guests each, the largest in company history, built on the Sphere-class platform. They deliver in late 2035, 2038 and 2039. That is a long way off, and no further Sphere-class ships are on order, so the fleet you can book through the early 2030s is essentially the fleet above.
Princess Standard, Plus and Premier
Princess sells three fare tiers. The structure was reworked in July 2025 for voyages sailing 2026 onward, so anything you read describing the older package contents is out of date.
| Standard | Plus | Premier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per person per day | Cruise fare only | $65 ($70 on Sun & Star) | $100 ($105 on Sun & Star) |
| Drinks | — | 15 per day, up to $15 each | Up to $20 each, no daily limit |
| Wi-Fi | — | MedallionNet Max, 1 device | MedallionNet Max, 4 devices |
| Crew Appreciation | — | Included | Included |
| Casual dining | — | 4 meals for the voyage | Unlimited |
| Specialty dining | — | — | Unlimited, 1 per mealtime per day |
| Shore excursion credit | — | — | $100 / $200 / $300 by length |
| Photos, reserved theatre seating | — | — | Included |
Both packages also cover unlimited specialty coffees and teas, up to twelve bottled waters a day, 25% off bottled wine, and waived OceanNow and room-service delivery fees.
Is Plus or Premier actually worth it?
Do the arithmetic rather than defaulting. Start with gratuities, because a Standard-fare guest pays Crew Appreciation anyway. Once that is in the column, Plus at $65 a day needs only three or four bar drinks and Wi-Fi to clear.
Plus is often not worth it when the guest barely drinks; when the itinerary is port-intensive with long days ashore, which is most of Japan and the Mediterranean, leaving few onboard drinking hours; or when the guest is already Platinum or Elite in Captain’s Circle, because that tier gets 50% off a MedallionNet package and a chunk of the value evaporates.
Premier is a $35-a-day step up from Plus. It earns that mainly for guests who would otherwise be paying specialty restaurant covers most nights — that alone can clear the difference. It is poor value for a light drinker eating in the main dining room.
Two hard rules. Buy at least 96 hours before departure or pay a surcharge of $5 to $10 per day. And note that the headline “up to $300 shore excursion credit” only applies at 21 days or more — a seven-day Alaska or Caribbean sailing earns $100.
For a fuller view of what a cruise costs once everything is counted, see how much a cruise really costs.
MedallionClass — the thing Princess actually owns
The OceanMedallion is a quarter-sized wearable, and it is the single feature no competitor replicates at this scale.
- Keyless stateroom entry — the door unlocks as you approach, with a personalised greeting on the display outside
- OceanNow delivery — order food and drink to your cabin or to wherever you happen to be standing, because the Medallion tells the crew where you are
- Shipmate locator — real-time location of your travelling companions anywhere onboard, with messaging
- MedallionPay — contactless purchases with no card and no PIN
- OceanCompass — turn-by-turn wayfinding to venues
- Plus contactless boarding, dining reservations, event booking and in-cabin entertainment
The four that genuinely sell it are keyless entry, poolside delivery, the locator and contactless payment. For a multigenerational group of eight spread across a 4,000-guest ship, the locator alone changes the week. For a couple who would rather not wear anything, it is a convenience, not a reason to book.
Dining
Main dining rooms are complimentary and can be walked into or reserved. Princess has moved its reservation tooling to a digital dining concierge inside Manage Booking, so if you have sailed before and are looking for the old branded system by name, it has changed.
Complimentary venues across the fleet include the main dining rooms, the buffet — World Fresh Marketplace on most ships, The Eatery on Sphere-class — the International Café, Afternoon Tea, the Salty Dog Cafe and a range of Lido and Promenade grills, pizza and ice cream counters.
Specialty restaurants carry a cover charge: Crown Grill, Sabatini’s, The Catch by Rudi, Makoto Ocean, The Butcher’s Block by Dario, Umai Teppanyaki and Hot Pot, Love by Britto, Alfredo’s and Gigi’s pizzerias, plus experiences like the Chef’s Table and 360.
The named-chef programme is real rather than decorative: Rudi Sodamin heads culinary arts, with Makoto Okuwa, Tony Gemignani, Dario Cecchini and Darren McGrady attached to specific venues.
One practical warning: whether a given venue carries a cover charge varies by ship, and Princess’s own pages are not always consistent about it. Check the ship, not the brand.
Drinks and Wi-Fi
Most guests get drinks through Plus or Premier rather than buying a standalone package. Plus covers 15 drinks a day at up to $15 each; Premier raises the ceiling to $20 and removes the daily alcohol limit. Both include unlimited specialty coffees and teas and up to twelve bottled waters. Mini-bar items, vending machines, tobacco and food are excluded.
Wi-Fi is MedallionNet, with a premium MedallionNet Max tier that is what sits inside the fare packages — one device on Plus, four on Premier. It is marketed as supporting streaming and video calls ship-wide. Platinum and Elite Captain’s Circle members get 50% off a MedallionNet package, which is worth factoring before buying Plus.
Entertainment
Princess punches above its segment here, largely because it has invested in venues rather than just shows.
- Princess Arena — the Sphere-class main theatre, 990 seats, with three physical configurations
- The Dome — Sphere-class only. A glass-enclosed geodesic structure inspired by Santorini terraces, seating 250, hosting aerial and acrobatic performances with Cirque Éloize
- The Piazza — the social heart of every Princess ship: live music, dancing, acrobats, the champagne waterfall
- Princess Theater on Royal-, Grand- and Coral-class ships, plus Princess Live!, Crooners piano bar and O’Malley’s Irish Pub
- A 300-square-foot poolside movie screen with a 69,000-watt sound system
The partnerships are unusually good for a mainstream line: Stephen Schwartz, composer of Wicked and Godspell, has written four exclusive musicals for Princess; The Magic Castle supplies Spellbound; and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop collaborated on The Secret Silk.
Cabins, suites and the Sanctuary confusion
Categories run Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, Mini-suite and Suite, and all are available at any of the three fare tiers. Our cruise cabin guide covers how to choose between them generally. Two Princess-specific tiers are worth understanding.
Reserve Collection — on the fifteen older ships
Reserve Collection mini-suites and suites get a private entrance to an exclusive area of the main dining room with expedited seating and daily chef specials served nowhere else, plus welcome wine, premium robes and prime cabin locations. Reserve Collection suites add a complimentary mini-bar, a private breakfast venue, an embarkation-day specialty dinner with champagne, Concierge Lounge access, a dedicated suite manager and complimentary laundry.
Sanctuary Collection — Sun and Star Princess only
This is the single most confusing piece of Princess terminology, so here it is plainly.
- On most of the fleet, “The Sanctuary” is a paid adults-only sun deck — cabanas, open-air massage, Serenity Stewards, chilled towels, light snacks. You buy a pass. It is not a cabin type.
- On Sun and Star Princess, the “Sanctuary Collection” is a gated accommodation tier — Sanctuary suites, mini-suites and balconies — whose guests get the Sanctuary Club adults-only top-deck retreat, the exclusive Sanctuary Restaurant, a two-storey Suite Lounge, and Princess Premier included in the booking.
That last point is the commercially important one: never sell Premier on top of a Sanctuary Collection booking — it is already there.
Adults, families and children
Princess is adult-leaning by design and genuinely family-capable in practice, which is a narrower and more accurate claim than either “adults line” or “family line.”
The youth programme is complimentary and age-banded. On most ships it is The Treehouse (3–7), The Lodge (8–12) and The Beach House (13–17). Sun and Star Princess use different names: Firefly Park (6 months to 7 years), Neon Grove (8–12) and The Underground for teens. Infants from six months to two years get free supervised play during parent-accompanied hours. No advance booking is required, and programmes run on port days.
House rules worth knowing: all guests under 18 must be in their staterooms by 1:00 a.m. unless with a parent, under-18s cannot leave the ship unaccompanied in port, and anyone under 21 must share a cabin with someone 21 or over.
The multigenerational case is Princess’s strongest family argument. Three age-banded clubs, a quiet adults-only Sanctuary for the grandparents, and the Shipmate locator so nobody has to coordinate by text. That combination is hard to find elsewhere.
Alaska — the reason Princess exists for a lot of people
Princess has sailed Alaska for over 55 years and describes 2026 as its largest season ever: eight ships, 180 departures, 19 destinations and five departure ports, including weekend sailings from Seattle. The core product is the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers, a one-way Vancouver–Whittier sailing, alongside round-trip Inside Passage itineraries.
Glacier Bay, and why it is not automatic
This is the highest-value question to ask about any Alaska cruise, on any line. The National Park Service allocates 153 cruise-ship use days across the June–August season, with no more than two ships per day. Of those, 71 were awarded to Holland America and Princess under historical operating rights recognised through federal legislation. That two-ships-per-day cap is why Glacier Bay access is a genuine competitive moat rather than marketing.
Princess is an authorised concessioner and has 89 Glacier Bay sailings in 2026 — which also means most of its Alaska sailings do not enter the park. Princess states that every Gulf of Alaska cruisetour includes a full day cruising Glacier Bay; round-trip Inside Passage sailings are where it may not be included. Confirm it explicitly on the specific itinerary.
The five wilderness lodges
| Lodge | Where | Rooms |
|---|---|---|
| Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge | One mile from the Denali National Park entrance | 656 |
| Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge | Inside Denali State Park, on the Chulitna River | 460 |
| Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge | Banks of the Chena River, Fairbanks | 326 |
| Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge | Cooper Landing, 43 acres on the Kenai River | 86 |
| Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge | Near Wrangell–St. Elias National Park | 85 |
Note the two small ones. Kenai has 86 rooms and Copper River 85. Itineraries built around those lodges sell out first, because there is no more inventory to sell.
The rail — Direct-to-the-Wilderness
Princess runs ten Ultra Dome railcars branded Midnight Sun Express, with full-dome panoramic windows, open-air observation platforms, made-to-order dining and hydraulic lifts on six cars for accessibility. They operate daily, May through September, between Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali and Fairbanks.
Direct-to-the-Wilderness is the part worth paying for: two express services running straight from the Whittier cruise terminal — the Denali Express and the McKinley Express. Princess’s claim is that it is the only line taking guests directly from the pier to lodges in the Denali area the same day.
How the cruisetours are structured
For 2026 Princess offers 26 cruisetour itineraries across five types, running 10 to 17 nights, with nearly 70% including the rail service. The three currently named products are:
- Denali Explorer — 10–15 nights, meal plan available for purchase
- Denali Escorted — 12–17 nights, most land meals included, dedicated tour director
- Denali Essentials — 10–12 nights, shorter land component, meal plan sold separately
The meal difference is a real trap. Only Denali Escorted includes most land meals. Clients comparing headline prices across the three will misjudge the real cost by hundreds of dollars a head. Our Alaska cruises guide covers the cruise-versus-cruisetour decision in more depth.
Onboard, the North to Alaska programme brings Park Ranger commentary in Glacier Bay, a Native Alaskan Speaker Series, Deadliest Catch presentations by the show’s own captains, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, Iditarod sled dogs in the Piazza, and Junior Ranger programmes run with the National Park Service.
Beyond Alaska
- Japan and Asia. 2028 is the largest Japan season Princess has run — 85 departures across 52 itineraries, with Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess both homeporting in Tokyo for the first time. Both ships were built in Japan.
- Caribbean. The largest programme in company history for 2027–28: 187 departures across nine ships and 43 itineraries, with Miami joining Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, New York and San Juan as a homeport. See our Caribbean guide.
- Panama Canal. 22 departures on five ships for 2027–28, with both full ocean-to-ocean transits and round trips. Coral and Island Princess are the specialists here — they were built to fit.
- Europe. Mediterranean and Northern Europe seasons; see our Mediterranean guide.
- World cruises. The 2028 World Cruise is 115 days on Coral Princess, departing 3 January 2028 round trip from Fort Lauderdale or Los Angeles — 49 destinations, 24 countries, five continents, with segments bookable from 20 to 100 days.
Private destinations
Princess Cays sits on the southern tip of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and has operated since 1992 — around 40 acres with more than 1.5 miles of white-sand shoreline. Access is by ship’s tender, and calls typically run seven to eight hours. There are picnic areas, two barbeque pavilions, four bars, a marketplace and a water sports kiosk, with snorkelling over the reef, kayaks, banana boats and a glass-bottom boat tour. Clamshell cabanas and air-conditioned beach bungalows are rentable, including an adults-only Sanctuary Bungalow option.
Celebration Key, Carnival Corporation’s new Grand Bahama destination, opens 1 November 2026, and Princess ships begin calling in the 2026–27 winter season. It has over a mile of shoreline, a 3.5-acre freshwater lagoon and five distinct areas — Paradise Plaza, the family-focused Starfish Lagoon, the adult-friendly Calypso Lagoon, the adults-only premium Pearl Cove Beach Club and the Lokono Cove artisan marketplace. Princess offers guests either one complimentary meal at walk-up venues or 40% off an entrée at full-service restaurants.
One thing to confirm at booking: whether your Princess beverage package and the Medallion itself function at Celebration Key. It is a Carnival-operated property and Princess has not published a clear answer. Ask rather than assume. Our private islands guide compares what each line offers.
Loyalty — Captain’s Circle
Tiers qualify on cruises or cruise days, whichever comes first.
| Tier | Qualification | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | First cruise | Member pricing, onboard events, Circle Host |
| Ruby | 3 cruises or 30 days | Shoreside Help Desk line |
| Platinum | 5 cruises or 50 days | 50% off MedallionNet, early dining reservations, spa and photo discounts, Platinum & Elite Lounge |
| Elite | 15 cruises or 150 days | 10% off shore excursions, complimentary mini-bar, free laundry, in-stateroom tea, priority disembarkation |
The two that change booking maths are Platinum’s Wi-Fi discount, which undercuts part of the Plus package’s value, and Elite’s free laundry and mini-bar, which are meaningful on long voyages. If you hold status with another line, check our guide to cruise line status matches before you book.
How Princess compares
| Versus | The real difference |
|---|---|
| Holland America | The closest rival and a corporate sibling. Both hold Glacier Bay rights. Princess has five owned lodges and same-day rail from the pier; HAL has one lodge but the exclusive Yukon and Dawson City programme, and longer itineraries |
| Celebrity | Celebrity is more design-forward with a stronger suite enclave. Princess has the Alaska land operation, MedallionClass, and packages that actually include gratuities — Celebrity’s do not |
| Royal Caribbean | Different buyers entirely. Royal sells the ship as the destination; Princess sells the destination. Rarely a genuine head-to-head outside the Caribbean |
| Viking Ocean | Viking is adults-only at around 930 guests with more bundled into the base fare. Princess is far larger and cheaper, with entertainment, a casino and children’s programming Viking does not attempt |
| Norwegian | NCL is more casual, more freestyle and skews younger. Princess is more traditional in service style, with the Alaska land network and MedallionClass |
Booking considerations
- Final payment is 90 days before departure for cruises of 1–13 days and 120 days for anything 14 days or longer.
- Long voyages have a staged deposit. Sailings of 45 days or more take 10% at booking, a further 20% at 320 days out, and final payment at 120 days. Penalties begin at 320 days — unusually early, and the most common source of client surprise on world cruises.
- Buy Plus or Premier at least 96 hours before departure or pay a per-day surcharge.
- Alaska cruisetours are a book-early product. The constraint is land inventory, not ship inventory — the lodges are finite and owned, the rail is capped at ten cars, and Kenai and Copper River itineraries go first. Princess publishes Alaska seasons roughly two years ahead.
- Confirm Glacier Bay in writing on the specific sailing.
- Check Captain’s Circle status before buying Plus. Platinum’s 50% Wi-Fi discount changes the arithmetic.
Get the right Princess itinerary and fare
Princess is a line where the details decide the trip. Whether your Alaska sailing enters Glacier Bay, whether your cruisetour includes land meals, whether Plus or Premier or Standard is genuinely cheaper for how you travel, and whether a Sanctuary Collection booking already contains the package you were about to buy — none of that is visible in a headline fare.
Cruise Planners – Neal Lewis & Associates can compare Princess sailings on the things that matter: Glacier Bay inclusion, cruisetour type and what it actually covers, lodge availability, fare-tier arithmetic against your real consumption, and whether another line serves you better for the same money. There is no planning fee, and we can identify promotions, onboard credit and group opportunities where they apply.
Request rates and information with your dates and travel party. To browse first, start with Find the Right Cruise or the Advanced Cruise Search.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in Princess Plus?
Fifteen drinks a day at up to $15 each, unlimited specialty coffee and tea, up to twelve bottled waters daily, four casual-dining meals for the whole voyage, MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi on one device, crew gratuities, and waived delivery fees. It is $65 per person per day, or $70 on Sun and Star Princess.
What is the difference between Princess Plus and Premier?
Premier is $100 per person per day against Plus at $65. It raises the drink cap to $20 with no daily alcohol limit, adds unlimited specialty dining at one per mealtime per day, gives four Wi-Fi devices instead of one, and adds a shore excursion credit, unlimited photos and reserved theatre seating.
Are gratuities included on Princess?
Yes, if you buy Plus or Premier — Crew Appreciation is bundled into both. On a Standard fare it is charged separately to your onboard account, with the amount varying by stateroom type.
What is the Princess Medallion?
A quarter-sized wearable device. It handles touch-free boarding, unlocks your stateroom as you approach, lets you order food and drink to anywhere on the ship, pays for purchases contactlessly, locates your travelling companions and gives turn-by-turn wayfinding.
Does every Princess Alaska cruise go to Glacier Bay?
No. The National Park Service caps entries at two ships per day across 153 use days. Princess has 89 Glacier Bay sailings in 2026, which is a minority of its Alaska departures. Princess states every Gulf of Alaska cruisetour includes a full day there; round-trip Inside Passage sailings may not. Check the specific itinerary.
Does Princess own its Alaska lodges?
Yes — five of them: Denali (656 rooms), Mt. McKinley (460), Fairbanks Riverside (326), Kenai (86) and Copper River (85). It also runs ten glass-domed railcars and 359 motorcoaches.
What is a Princess cruisetour?
A 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise combined with three or more land nights at Princess-owned wilderness lodges, linked by glass-domed rail. For 2026 there are 26 itineraries across five types running 10–17 nights. The three named products are Denali Explorer, Denali Escorted and Denali Essentials — only Escorted includes most land meals.
Is Princess good for kids?
Yes, with a caveat. There are complimentary age-banded clubs — The Treehouse, The Lodge and The Beach House on most ships; Firefly Park, Neon Grove and The Underground on Sun and Star. But Princess builds no water parks or go-kart tracks, so it works better for multigenerational groups than as a dedicated family line.
What is the Sanctuary on Princess?
It depends on the ship. On most of the fleet it is a paid adults-only sun deck with cabanas and open-air massage. On Sun and Star Princess, the Sanctuary Collection is instead a gated accommodation tier that includes Princess Premier plus access to the Sanctuary Club, Sanctuary Restaurant and Suite Lounge.
Which is the newest Princess ship?
Star Princess, which debuted 4 October 2025. It is the Sphere-class sister to Sun Princess — around 4,300 guests, 21 decks and LNG-powered. Three larger Voyager-class ships are on order for late 2035, 2038 and 2039.
When is final payment due on a Princess cruise?
Ninety days before departure for cruises of 1–13 days, and 120 days for anything longer. Voyages of 45 days or more take 10% at booking, a further 20% at 320 days out, and final payment at 120 days.
Ships, packages, pricing structures, itineraries, lodge availability and national park access arrangements change. Details here reflect published information at the time of writing and should be confirmed for your specific sailing before booking. Cruise Planners – Neal Lewis & Associates does not control supplier pricing, promotions, itineraries, onboard policies or National Park Service allocations.